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Olive Oil Pie Crust

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love pie. The crust is my favorite part. But, it’s loaded with hydrogenated oils (if you buy the easy refrigerated kind) or lard, if you let Aunt Joyce make one of her awesome crusts. She has a way of molding the dough in her hands… an art form that no amount of fat can compensate for. She swears by the addition of a splash of vinegar… to keep the dough from sticking.

Surely, there must be a way to make pie crust from olive oil? When the berries were fresh, and coming in by the bucket-load at the lake, I began searching for an honest-to-goodness olive oil pie crust. This did not take long to find… apparently, in Europe, where they use olive oil for everything, they do make pie crust with olive oil. Standard fare. This recipe also included vinegar.

To make sure the crust would stand the test, this past summer, I asked my Aunt Joyce to teach me how to make pie crust — with one catch… she use my new olive oil pie crust recipe.

She was, admittedly, nervous. But, I reassured her I wouldn’t hold it against her if this didn’t “turn out,” nor would I announce it to her sisters and sisters in laws. It would be our little secret.

She was amazing. Truly a gift to last for generations of women, is a video of her capable hands creating the crust, under her magical technique. The olive oil pie crust recipe is below.

Olive Oil Pie Crust Recipe:

2/3 cup of extra virgin Olive Oil

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup ice water

1 tbsp of vinegar

Place olive oil in the freezer until it solidifies and is of a consistency similar to thick honey — about three hours.

Put olive oil, flour, salt into a bowl and work with a pastry cutter. Create four discs.

Place discs in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour to chill.

Roll disc out until 1/8 inch thick on parchment paper and put into a pie plate. Use as you would a regular pie crust.

As a pie lover, a maker of pies, and someone who has lived in Europe (Germany) for three years, I just have to ask, “Where in the world did you hear that Europeans make pie?”

I have never seen a pie in Germany (other than those I made). I have never been able to convince Germans that the pies I make are not cakes and are not tortes. I have never even seen a pie tin. I had to get my own sent from the U.S.

But, that aside, I think the olive oil idea is brilliant. I’m also considering trying coconut oil (which has the consistency of shortening–which, by the way, also doesn’t exist in Germany, so I use butter).